Amber Alert, social media changed dynamic of missing children cases: expert

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – While Amber Alerts have changed the dynamic of missing children’s cases since the introduction of the system, it’s difficult to say if an alert would have made a difference in the disappearance of Michael Dunahee in Victoria 30 years ago, according to an expert.

Lindsay Lobb with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection points to the combination of Amber Alerts and social media as dramatically changing how missing children cases have been handled.

She explains Amber Alerts were a game changer for U.S. missing children’s case in the 1990s because it engages and informs the public quickly.

“You never know who could hold a piece of the information you need to find a child,” she says. “When the Amber Alert is called, we ask the public to pay attention, read the information carefully. You never know what could be that little missing piece of the puzzle.”

“Know that it’s not a perfect system, and there some glitches and bumps along the way, but it’s better than not knowing,” she adds.

Lobb also says the connectivity of social media has shifted the types of cases that are coming through the organization.

“We don’t normally get the calls in the middle of the night anymore from a panicked mom whose kid didn’t show up for curfew because instead, they’re able to text them,” she says.

“There can be a lot of negatives with social media and technology, but to the point of being able to notify the public, it has changed the game”

New sketch of Michael Dunahee 

Wednesday marked 30 years since Michael Dunahee disappeared from a Victoria playground at the age of four, and a new sketch has been released showing what he might look like today.

Michael, who would be 34 this year, has never been found. His story has become one of B.C.’s most high-profile missing person cases.

The image was drawn by Cpl. Virginia Bernier, a forensic sketch artist with the RCMP, who notes there’s a drastic age difference between when the boy was last seen and how old he would be today.

The then-four-year-old boy was in the Blanchard School playground on March 24 — not far from where his family and others were playing a touch football game — when he simply vanished.

The search for the child involved hundreds of volunteers and a number of police agencies, but no trace of Michael was found. This was well before the advent of tools like the Amber Alert.

Amber Alerts are provincially operated in Canada and are sent out by law enforcement, reaching people through cellphones, TV, and radio.

Alberta was the first province to introduce the Amber Alert system in 2002.

-with files from Mike Lloyd and Hana Mae Nassar